How to Introduce Carsharing in Your City?
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HOW TO INTRODUCE CARSHARING IN YOUR CITY? A toolbox for decision-makers designed by STARS partners 1 Why this toolbox? Car sharing can promote a car-independent lifestyle less dependent on private cars and offer a supplement to public transport. Thus, it has the potential to ease congestion, reduce parking demand in cities and cut emissions. Car sharing can also help to reclaim street space for active mobility, making cities quieter, cleaner and more liveable. However, it needs the right service of car sharing within a wider framework of sustainable mobility. This toolbox will show how decision-makers and planners can support the development of car sharing. The idea of replacing a privately owned car by a shared car was at the heart of the concept when car sharing emerged in the 1980s, first in Switzerland and a bit later in Germany. Car sharing proponents figured that a shared use of cars would reduce the car dependency of most households and give room to other more sustainable means of transport without sacrificing appropriate access to cars. With this toolbox, we will shed a light on the untapped treasures car sharing can offer. We want to unravel the sharing idea to municipalities, companies, fleet owners, housing companies and all multimodal enthusiasts and take you to the path to sustainable, future-proof mobility, getting rid of the muff of the ever-same dead-end road of the car-oriented city. The recommendations included in this toolbox are based on the findings of the STARS project (Shared mobility opporTunities And challenges foR European citieS). Since October 2017, this H2020 project has been exploring the diffusion of car sharing in Europe, its connections with technological and social innovations, as well as its impacts on other transport modes (private car, bike, walk, taxi, public transport…) in a co-modality perspective. More specifically, STARS investigated the implications and impacts of different forms of car sharing, not only in terms of car ownership shifts but also in terms of usage of different travel means. 2 What is car sharing? Car sharing is an innovative form of car rental with easy and decentralised access in the neighbourhoods and options for short use. With car sharing, you don’t own the car yourself but use it and share it with others. The car’s owner is usually a car sharing provider with some fleet. Customers have to present their driving licence and sign an agreement with the provider to register. When this is done, they can enjoy the advantages of using a car without the disadvantages of ownership. Car sharing is an umbrella term for several variants of sharing. It is distinct from ride sharing and ride hailing, where you will be driven rather than driving yourself. 3 A star was born From the first experiments in the early 1980s in small communities that organised their privately shared car systems, the concept of car sharing as a mobility service evolved. From neighbourhood initiative to broader scale service, it took almost decades. The technology development of internet, smart card and phone apps improved intensely the quality service of car sharing. The popularity of car sharing is a different story today with an estimated15 million car sharing users and 150 000 cars in circulation in Europe in 2020 (Monitor Deloitte, 2017). In recent years, car sharing has witnessed double-digit growth, particularly in larger cities. Today, high-density urban areas are the preferred business environment for car sharing (free floating models in particular). Nevertheless, also in smaller cities, towns and even on countryside there is a growing car sharing service (usually station-based models). Besides the big players of the automotive industry and rather medium-sized commercial operators, you will find targeted offers in special environments by non-commercial operators. Societal benefits Growing population and urbanisation are creating higher cost for car ownership in cities. Together with increasing transport problems, innovative mobility services support a change of mobility patterns.Car sharing can not only reduce the individual costs of owning a car, but also may reduce external costs such as congestion, energy consumption and air pollution. Moreover, as the majority of cars sit idling for most of the day, car sharing can free up space by reducing the number of private cars. The impacts depend on the model of car sharing and its integration into a wider sustainable mobility strategy. Lastly, it has been demonstrated that car sharing members use sustainable transport more often and cars less often than the average city or country population. 4 Cooperation & technology as enablers Competitive and innovative business models evolved. Some countries also developed special legal frameworks to enable municipalities to better integrate car sharing into mobility strategies. Cooperation with local governments often enable operators to operate with on-street stations, may have privileges for using parking space, integrate car sharing in new housing developments, and for more cooperation with local public transport. Technology and integrated digital platforms such askeyless entry and real-time parking options on mobile apps are tools which might be used by car sharing operators. Customers require a convenient and reliable service if car sharing shall replace the private car. When car sharing shall serve as a stopgap, it need a well-developed transport system where you can get around easily by walking, cycling and public transport (which is probably the most important prerequisite for a successful car sharing operation with meaningful impacts). Further technological developments may disrupt the automobile world and change the way we use cars today to more Mobility as a Service (MaaS) systems. In addition, electrification and autonomous driving will deeply influence and may boost the car sharing market. The automotive industry is a key player in that field and may change from being just car manufacturers to mobility service providers. Also the digital industry is becoming a major player, not only with information services but as a major player influencing individual decisions in the chain of mobility decisions. 5 Car sharing models & their impacts Car sharing services can be categorised into five types that combine organisations’ operational characteristics with different business models. There is no business model better than others. The model that fits a rural area will not be the same as the one that fits a dense urban area. Likewise, the choice of consumers often depends upon personal preferences while for local authorities, choices depend upon the policy aims. Certain business models will work only on commercial basis in dense urban areas. 1 2 3 Free-floating with an Free-floating with Roundtrip operational area pool stations station-based A shared vehicle can A shared vehicle can be Bringing back a be left at returned at shared vehicle to any parking place in different spots, but the same an operational area. always in a dedicated parking location. car sharing station. 4 5 Roundtrip Peer-to-peer homezone-based Bringing back a Shared vehicles among shared vehicle to the private drivers, either same in (closed) community neighbourhood. groups or peer-to- peer. 6 Different car sharing forms from different operators may well coexist in the same city, as STARS as shown. Additionally, one operator can organise a combined offer using part of the fleet for round-trip and other part for free-floating services. There are commercial car sharing companies, some being part of the automotive industry or of car hire companies, but also many medium-sized car sharing operators that developed from grass-roots organisations. Additionally you will find non-profit organisations providing services (mainly in specific small markets). For car sharing operators, a key concern is balancing capacity utilisation against the service level offered to users, while financing both investment and running costs of the fleet. There is a wide range of membership and users’ fees options to meet varied market requirements. Car sharing primarily impacts car ownership There are differences in the impacts of free-floating and of roundtrip station- based car sharing, addressing different target groups and mobility needs. Most free floating operators (especially of the automotive industry) concentrate on larger cities (more than 500 000 inhabitants), whereas station-based car sharing is found also in smaller cities, towns and even sometimes on the countryside. Free floating services usually attract a number of subscribers in a given area of one order of magnitude larger than station-based ones. STARS carried out a comparative study about car ownership impacts of car sharing. Key results are: Free-floating car sharing alone has a little effect on car ownership, mainly either in postponing the purchase of an additional car or in replacing an existing one that was dismissed Station-based car sharing: each shared car replaces up to 16 private cars in the German case study Combined car sharing services have good effect on car ownership 7 The STARS studies shows that a combination of station-based and free-floating car sharing in one hand delivers the reliable service of station-based car sharing (as precondition for giving up a private car) with the flexibility of free-floating offers. It may attract additional users, but having more impacts than free-floating alone. ving up a private car) with the flexibility of 1. High visibility and accessibility of the service 2. Reliable service with option to make prior reservation (ensure that cars are available when needed) How to provide 3. Stations close to demand: dense station network (no station-based car "isolated applications", no non-public systems) 3. Additionally to (smaller) stations in the neighbourhoods sharing to replace also large stations with a wide range of vehicles (at public most effectively transport hubs, for instance) private car? Car sharing impacts mobility habits Car sharing users are keen public transport users as they own more season tickets and they use public transport more frequently.